It was a pleasure to talk with journalist Sheila Cain about my approach to treating sleep disorders. The article is now published in Seattle magazine’s Top Doc issue (July).
My favorite excerpt is: “My primary care doctor gave me a printout of things to try, then told me to go home and do them,” Crocker said. “With Dr. Darley, we worked on a very individualized plan that was specific to me.”
The thing I love most is the way in which each person’s sleepless story is unique, even if each one is coming in for what appears to be the same ‘insomnia’ complaint. Taking the time in the first appointment to really understand how the sleep problem developed, how it impacts their quality of life, and the individual lifestyle makes all the difference in making an individual treatment plan that works.
Sometimes in an appointment a patient and I will have moments where we are communicating so clearly, heart to heart, and getting to the root of the sleeplessness. Those times I imagine if someone took a picture there’d be a big light bulb over both of us. Those break through moments make this work worth every effort.
You can read the full article here: http://www.seattlemag.com/article/sleep-deprived-seattle
Internet intervention for insomnia
Despite the therapeutic effectiveness and proven success of CBT, treatment availability is significantly limited by a lack of trained clinicians, poor geographical distribution of knowledgeable professionals, and expense.
Many insomniacs rely on sleeping tablets and other sedatives to get rest, with research showing that medications are prescribed to over 95% of insomniac cases.Certain classes of sedatives such as benzodiazepines and newer nonbenzodiazepine drugs can also cause physical dependence, which manifests in withdrawal symptoms if the drug is not carefully tapered down. The benzodiazepine and nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic medications also have a number of side-effects such as day time fatigue, motor vehicle crashes, cognitive impairments and falls and fractures. Elderly people are more sensitive to these side-effects. The non-benzodiazepines zolpidem and zaleplon have not adequately demonstrated effectiveness in sleep maintenance. Some benzodiazepines have demonstrated effectiveness in sleep maintenance in the short term but in the longer term are associated with tolerance and dependence. Drugs that may prove more effective and safer than existing drugs for insomnia are in development.
Sleep problems can be also attributed to anxiety and depression. ”
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I’ve been having trouble sleeping and it’s linked to depression from an illness I’ve had. Sometimes I’m sleeping to much and other times I’m sleeping to little. Even when I do sleep, it’s not good, deep sleep. THanks for the points you made. I’ll be sure to take them on board.